Apparatus for the wet-treatment of loose textile material

ABSTRACT

THE PRESENT DISCLOSURE RELATES TO AN APPARATUS FOR THE WET-TREATMENT OF LOOSE TEXTILE MATERIAL WHICH COMPRISES AT LEAST ONE LIQUID CONTAINER CONTAINING A TREATMENT LIQUID AND PROVIDED WITH A PERFORATED INTERMEDIATE BOTTOM WHICH DIVIDES THE CONTAINER INTO A TREATMENT ZONE AND A LOWER DIRT-SETTLING ZONE, A LEAST ONE CONVEYING ELEMENT SUBJECTED TO A SUCTION DRAFT DISPOSED IN THE TREATMENT ZONE AND AT LEAST PARTIALLY IMMERSED IN THE TREATMENT LIQUID, MEAN FOR INTRODUCING THE MATERIAL TO BE TREATED TO THE TREATMENT LIQUID, AT LEAST ONE DISTRIBUTION BOX DISPOSED IN THE SETTLING ZONE BELOW THE INTERMEDIATE BOTTOM AND IN THE VICINITY OF THE CONVEYING ELEMENT FOR DISTRIBUTING THE TREATMENT LIQUID OVER THE ENTIRE WORKING WIDTH OF THE CONVEYING ELEMENT AND OUTLET MEANS FOR REMOVING THE LOOSE TEXTILE MATERIAL FROM THE TREATMENT LIQUID.

Jan. 19, 1971 I H. FLEiSSNER 3,555,857

APPARATUS FOR THE WET-TREATMENT 0F LOOSE TEXTILE MATERIAL Filed Oct, 8, 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Jan. 19, 1971 FLElSSNER 3,555,853

APPARATUS FOR THE WET-TREATMENT OF LOOSE TEXTILE MATERIAL Filed Oct; 8, 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet B 0h awya Erma/e):

United States Patent U.S. CI. 68-22 12 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The present disclosure relates to an apparatus for the wet-treatment of loose textile material which comprises at least one liquid container containing a treatment liquid and provided with a perforated intermediate bottom which divides the container into a treatment zone and a lower dirt-settling zone, at least one conveying element subjected to a suction draft disposed in the treatment zone and at least partially immersed in the treatment liquid, means for introducing the material to be treated to the treatment liquid, at least one distribution box disposed in the settling zone below the intermediate bottom and in the vicinity of the conveying element for distributing the treatment liquid over the entire working width of the conveying element and outlet means for removing the loose textile material from the treatment liquid,

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an apparatus for the wet-treatment of loose textile material, especially for scouring raw wool, utilizing one or more liquid containers. The liquid containers have a perforated intermediate bottom which subdivides said containers into a treatment bath and a dirt settling space. The liquid containers are also provided with an oblique bottom and with conveying elements subjected to a suction draft, such as for example a sieve drum, which are at least partially immersed in the treatment liquid, said liquid containers being provided with a floating zone between the conveying elements. Squeezer means consisting of at least two rollers and a liquid collecting container arranged beneath the bottom of the squeeze rollers are also associated with at least one of the conveying elements.

The conventional raw wool scouring machines usually consist of approximately five treatment bowls wherein the first bowl serves for wetting the wool and generally contains only sodium carbonate or another wetting agent and no detergents. The following two or three bowls serve for scouring the wool. In these bowls the dirt is separated from the wool and in addition the wool is degreased. The last bowl is utilized for rinsing. Between the individual bowls, squeezers are arranged for dehydrating the wool when passing it from one bowl to the next bowl. In the conventional raw wool wash bowls, the wool is generally transported through the bowl by means of rakes or harrows. These rakes and harrows have the disadvantage that wool tails form on their teeth which result in fiber breakage during the opening process.

In order to effect a more gentle transportation of the wool it has already been suggested to use sieve drums subjected to a suction draft and partially immersed in the treatment liquid, The liquid which is drawn in by the "ice drum is discharged from the drum at the face. With these devices a top-to-noil ratio is obtained which is up to about 3% better than that obtained on the aforementioned well known rake leviathans.

Furthermore, a device has been suggested wherein a small floating chute is provided between the discharge drum and the squeezer. This floating chute extends up to the liquid level and thus seals the bowl against the squeezer. In the known devices, the loose fibrous material is conveyed from the squeezer to the next treatment bowl over a chute or over a conveyor belt. At the inlet of that bowl the material again drops into the treatment liquid and floats to the conveying element thereby being immersed in the treatment liquid.

These well known devices incorporate the disadvantages that the fibers in the fiber fleece emanating from the discharge sieve drum are moved within the fleece when the fleece is passed from one conveying element to the next conveying element. Such a movement causes a certain amount of felting within the fibers.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to avoid the prior art disadvantages in the wet-treatment of loose textile material.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved apparatus for the wet-treatment of loose textile materials wherein a gentle transportation of the loose fibrous material, for example raw wool, is effected with the separation of the dirt from the fibrous material and from the scouring liquid being improved.

Other objects and further scope of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter; it should be understood, however, that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description.

Pursuant to the present invention, it has been found that the above-mentioned disadvantages may be eliminated and a much improved apparatus for the wet-treatment of loose textile materials may be obtained by returning at least part of the liquid drawn in by the conveying element to the bowl, whereby this liquid is returned near the suction zone of the conveying element and is thereby distributed over the entire working width of said conveying element, The distribution of the liquid over the entire working width is expediently effected by means of a distribution box which is arranged beneath the intermediate bottom disposed in the liquid container. A portion of the top of the distribution box is in the form of a perforated sheet, the free area of said sheet being smaller than about 20%, preferably smaller than about 15%. The distribution box should have the same perforated outflow area over the entire working width of the conveying element. The outflow area of the distribution box is located at the material discharge side of the conveying element. In the direction of material passage the distribution box is wider than the outflow area at the top.

In one of the features of the present invention, the bottom roller of the squeezer is immersed in the treatment liquid of adjacent bowls. In this case, the respective face wall of a bowl is sealed against the bottom roller of the squeezer.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The present invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description given hereinbelow and the accompanying drawings which are given by way of illustration only and thus are not limitative of the present invention and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal section of the apparatus of the present invention containing a distribution box;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the apparatus according to FIG. 1 taken along line A-A; and

FIG. 3 shows the apparatus of the present invention wherein the bottom roller of the squeezer means is immersed in the treatment liquid of adjacent treatment bowls,

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring now to the drawings, wherein like reference numerals are used throughout the various views to designate like parts, the apparatus of the present invention according to FIGS. 1 and -2 comprises a liquid container 1 which is subdivided into an upper treatment bath 3 and a lower settling zone 4 by means of a perforated intermediate bottom 2. In the treatment bath, three conveying elements, for example sieve drums 5, subjected to a suction draft, are arranged. The treatment liquid is drawn into the sieve drums by means of pump 6 and is discharged through the side of the sieve drums through a duct 7. A motor 8 for driving the pump 6 is located outside the bowl and is connected with the pumps via V-belts 9. The liquid flowing out of the two front sieve drums is returned into the treatment bath 3 via a distribution box 10. As can be seen from FIG. 1, the portion of the distribution box 10 which is situated underneath the drum may be wider than the perforated sheet 11 of the distribution box, or, as indicated by the dashed line, its width may correspond to that of the perforated sheet 11. A sheet portion 12 of the distribution box is not perforated, so that the liquid may not flow back into the treatment bath within this range, but only within the range where the material detaches from the sieve drum. In the embodiment of the present invention as shown, the liquid which is drawn in by the sieve drum disposed at the end of the bowl near squeezer 13 is returned into the bowl at the inlet of the apparatus over a perforated chute 14. In this manner a flow in the direction of material passage is produced in the treatment bath 3. The liquid which flows in at the inlet of the bowl is drawn in by the first sieve drum 5 and flows out of the distribution box 10. Part of the liquid flowing out of the distribution box 10 flows to the second sieve drum 5, is drawn in and is passed on to the last sieve drum 5. This flow prevents settling of the fibers and permits an effective transportation of loose fibrous material 15 from one sieve drum to the next sieve drum. Since the loose fibrous material is condensed on the sieve drums, it is passed as a fleece over floating distances 16 between two sieve drums and on to the subsequent sieve drum. The last sieve drum passes a uniform fleece of loose fibrous material to squeezer 13.

As can be readily seen from FIG. 2, in this embodiment of the present invention the distribution box extends beyond the oblique bottom 16 of the liquid container 1 and has thus the same perforated outflow area over the entire working width of the apparatus. The dirt which slides along the oblique bottom 16 to the deepest point of the bowl is passed through a worm conveyor 17 to a mud-removal valve, not shown, and is removed from the bowl from time to time.

The apparatus according to FIG. 3 comprises a liquid container 21 of a first bowl 23 and a liquid container 22 of a second bowl 24. At the end of the bowl 23 a sieve drum 25 subjected to a suction draft is arranged which condenses the fibrous material 26 floating in the liquid to a uniform fleece and passes this fleece directly to a subsequent squeezer 27. In the following bowl 24 another sieve drum 25 is arranged directly behind squeezer 27. The sieve drum 25 takes over the fleece as a result of the suction draft, so that the fleece is properly detached from a bottom roller 28 of squeezer 27. The two faces of the liquid containers 21 and 22 are sealed against the bottom roller 28. A certain amount of leakage of the treatment liquid, which cannot be avoided in continuous operation, is collected in a collecting trough 29 which is arranged beneath the roller 28. The collected treatment liquid is pumped back into the preceding treatment bowl. The individual bowls are subdivided into an upper washing zone and a lower dirt-settling zone by means of a perforated sheet 30. In this embodiment of the present invention, the suction draft in the sieve drums 25 is produced by means of pumps 31 which convey the liquid into a duct 32 which is arranged above the pumps. From this duct the liquid is discharged at the face of the sieve drum 25 and is returned to the bowl.

The invention being thus described, it will be obvious that the same may be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the invention, and all such modifications as would be apparent to one skilled in the art are intended to be included.

It is claimed:

1. An apparatus for the wet-treatment of loose textile material which comprises at least one liquid container containing a treatment liquid and provided with a perforated intermediate bottom which divides the container into a treatment zone and a lower dirt-settling zone, at least one conveying element subjected to a suction draft disposed in the treatment zone and at least partially immersed in the treatment liquid, means for introducing the material to be treated to the treatment liquid, at least one distribution box disposed in the settling zone below the intermediate bottom and in the vicinity of the conveying element for distributing the treatment liquid over the entire working width of the conveying element, said distribution box being provided with a solid sheet portion and a perforated sheet portion defining an outflow area, and outlet means for removing the loose textile material from the treatment liquid.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the suction draft is created by a pump means which discharges the treatment liquid drawn into the conveying element through duct means and returns said liquid to the treatment zone through the distribution box means.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the free area of the perforated sheet portion of the distribution box is less than about 20%.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein, transverse to the direction of flow, the distribution box has the same perforated outflow area over the entire working :width of the conveying element.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the outflow area of the distribution box is located at the material discharge side of the conveying element.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the distribution box is wider than the outflow area at its top.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the outlet means comprises squeeze roller means provided with a collecting trough disposed therebelow and means for returning residual liquid from the collecting trough to the inlet of the liquid container through a perforated chute disposed therein.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein more than one conveying means is disposed within the container, a floating zone is provided between said conveying means and a distribution box is associated with each of said conveying means.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, comprising first and sec- 0nd liquid containers containing conveying elements wherein squeeze roller means provide communication between the last conveying element of the first liquid container and the first conveying element of the second liquid container, the bottom roller of the squeeze roller means being substantially submerged in the treatment liquid of the respective adjacent containers.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein a collecting trough is arranged beneath the squeeze roller means to collect the liquid leakage from the roller means which is returned to the preceding liquid container.

11. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the respective faces of the two containers are sealed against the bottom roller of the squeeze roller means.

12. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the conveying element is at least one sieve drum means subjected to a suction draft.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,440,843 4/1969 Fleissner 6822 0 WILLIAM I. PRICE, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 

